Economic Index Contracts

Puerto Rico’s economic activity index declined by 1.4% in July after five consecutive months of growth.

All four sectors that make up the index contracted in July compared to June.

Total payroll enrollment declined by 1.9% in July and cement sales dropped by 7.9%, according to the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico. The GDB is the commonwealth’s financial adviser and compiles the EAI.

July gasoline consumption decreased by 16 million gallons to 77 million gallons.

The average monthly consumption for gasoline in fiscal 2010 was slightly less than in fiscal 2009 — 91.3 million gallons compared to 91.9 million gallons.

Electric power sales dropped by 52 million kilowatt hours to 1,630 billion of kilowatt hours in July.

Fiscal 2010 electric power consumption grew by 3.9% compared to fiscal 2009 levels.

During the last half of fiscal 2010, the EAI contracted by 4.5%, a smaller decrease than the commonwealth experienced during the same period in fiscal 2009, when the index contracted by 5.89%.

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